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And She’s Texting the Freeway to Stairbird [Dan Collins]

For those seeking a quick way to show appreciationÃ‚Â for theÃ‚Â troops’ service far from home this holiday season, look no further than Ã¢â‚¬Å“Giving Thanks,Ã¢â‚¬Â a new initiative from the Defense DepartmentÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s America Supports You program. (Video)

Americans can send text messages of thanks and get responses from active-duty troops through the “Giving Thanks” initiative of the Defense Department’s America Supports You program.Ã‚Â Ã‚Â (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

America Supports You connects citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“This is a simple way to connect our citizens to our soldiers using modern technology,Ã¢â‚¬Â Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for internal communications and public liaison, said of the text messaging program.

The program, which already has received nearly 4,000 messages, officially kicks off at 6 a.m. EST Nov. 17 and concludes at midnight PST Nov. 22. Between those times, people wishing to express gratitude to the troops for their service can text a brief message to 89279. Each text message sent will receive a response from an active-duty servicemember in return.

Ã‚Â So, now we can demonstrate our support for those poor troops eating plastic turkey with Bushitler without even getting off of our sorry, sodden, football watching butts.Ã‚Â It’s the least we can do.

RMN: Malkin had that featured this morning. I reasonably certain that both progressives and liberals can agree that it is despicable and the Dept of Defense needs to step up and fix it now. If the president needs to get involved he should.

RWM: Have much of an agenda here? Just a bit off topic? Feel free to reach back to 2 year old crap that was identified and solved by rightfully “embarrassed” Republicans. If you think that this administration is any worse than any other dealing with returning soldiers, administrative nightmares, medical care and the like then your fixation on the “thugs” has blinded you to history. Spend some time checking out Johnson during the Vietnam War.

How about we move on to supporting the wonderful program above or would you rather start defending Pelosi and Reid’s conduct when it comes to, oh, I don’t know, funding those soldiers? It’s up to you.

You know what is odd, RMN? I just googled “military signing bonus” to see who was responsible for demanding these refunds, and I found a bunch of links to sites talking about demanding refunds from Vets, but the only name ever given was the same dude in Pittsburg. You think maybe it might be just an isolated incident, one of those clerical errors the military is famous for?

“Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson told a Senate committee that the number has been revised upward to 103,000 for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. He said the original estimates were based on outdated assumptions from 2002.

For three years they were basing their figures on estimates drawn up from before the war. Did Malkin feature that too this morning?

It was brought up as an independent budget item when the Republicans saw a 2.6 billion dollar shortfall staring them in the face. If, earlier, they didn’t want any attached items to a Dem amendment they were free to propose their own amendment. They took no such action.

Dan, Those are the proposals for 2008. The article I cited is from 2005.

“Rep. Chet Edwards (Tex.), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee on military quality of life and veterans affairs, said the administration and Republican leadership had been made aware of the problems as far back as 2004 when Reps. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) and Lane Evans (Ill.,), then chairman and ranking Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, called for major increases in spending.”

It’s just sad because it’s so insubstantial and faceless I guess and really, I think kind of condescending and stupid. You’ve got an entire political party calling these guys losers, and a text message is gonna make them feel more better? I think they’ve more than shown that they’re not sitting around over there pining for a pat on the back. I bet they would like some cookies and beer and dvds though.

Democrats won’t be happy until the benefits and such are such that the military is too expensive to actually use. There no chance that Republicans could ever actually spend enough to where the Democrats would not find fault. The Republicans want an effective military, the Democrats want an albatross.

RMN: OK, now that we have established that, in your mind, the evil Bushburton has been screwing the vets; What’s your opinion on texting the soldiers. Is that something you think is good and will you take advantage of it?

Or shall we continue to snark about the administrative failings of the VA and the DOD, things which have been legion for many, many years.

I just would rather they felt they could ask a bit more of me than just sending a text is all, NO. I guess I can’t know how this text thinger would seem to a soldier, but I kinda know for me it would depend a lot on my mood when I got it.

Tim Russert showed his ASY spirit Sunday on NBCÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Meet the Press by letting his viewers know how they can participate in the text messaging initiative. Great American CountryÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Grand Ole Opry host Nan Kelley pulled out her cell phone over the weekend to ask Grand Old Opry friends to text a message to the troops. America Supports You homefront group Operation Goody Bag has even a created a special Giving Thanks video on myspacetv.com.

Ok. This Goody Bag thing sounds more my speed. You guys can have the Tim Russert part.

We could save time and make a movie about cookie flavored beer, although I suspect it wouldn’t pack the same punch, and frankly I’m not sure anyone would be interested in such a blasphemous concoction.

I look at it with the idea that every single call, letter, text, care package sent improves the situation over what it would be if we just didn’t bother. The organization running this texting program provides all the other options to reach out as well.

“”To change the political law, it doesn’t seem to me you need the military stability,” Mr. Murtha told reporters on Capitol Hill.”

And the hard-hitting journalists scribbled furiously. Not one with enough sense or courage to scream “That is the most insane fucking thing I have ever heard, you black-hearted, lying sack of rancid porkfat!”

I agree with happyfeet. Makes me kinda sad, too. Bunny (my better half) and I sent ‘em a big box of DVDs for Christmas last year, but that doesn’t seem like much. I do rather like Collins’ idea of being able to buy them some beverage (or at least some good cookies) through PayPal. That would be cool.

Oh, and RMN, not to put too fine a point on it, but fuck you, the horse you rode in on, and the barking moonbat asshole who sent you. The VA has always been a mess, long before the e-vil McChimpyBushitler/Rove/Cheney/Halliburton/Rethuglican cabal was ever born, and the GIs have been justifiably bitching about it since day one, never mind that this has jack to do with the issue at hand. The last thing I’m interested in seeing right now is some proggie jerkoff mewling about something that, truth be known, he almost certainly doesn’t know a goddam thing about, other than what he read on DailyKoolAid or whatever.

Merovign, I think we’re all relatively certain that andy is actus. Anyhoo, nothing says, “utterly clueless about the U.S. military” more than trying to blame the Bush administration for the bonus thing. and if anyone could point me to a government offical saying “no thanks, we have enough money” I’d appreciate it.

Alright, here’s the skinny on stuff like this. It’s all very nice and everything, but honestly, nobody wants your text message. DVD’s? Yep. GOOD books? Yep. We had libraries of shitty romance novels and westerns. Snacks and baby wipes? We live in trailers now, with showers and air conditioning and everything. And a PX. So please, no more baby wipes, hot chocolate, or any other shit that we don’t need. Booze and porno? Not allowed. But we’re Americans, and Americans have know-how. So, if you know how to send booze and porno without getting people in trouble, then bless your soul.

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